Bay Coast

Explore where water and land meet on the Wild Atlantic Way

From distant Erris to Connemara, the Wild Atlantic Way skims south around huge bays. The largest of these – Clew Bay – is said to have 365 islets and islands, one for every day of the year. In Connemara, water and land merge in a lacy shoreline of loughs, coves, islands and bogs.

Drive across the road bridge to Keem Strand on Achill Island, with its towering sea-cliffs, exposed mountains and sweeping sandy beaches.
On Achill, while sheltering under Slievemore Mountain, you can wander through a strange and long abandoned settlement known simply as the Deserted Village. Simply walk from cottage to cottage, imagining life here through the centuries in this remote and poignant spot.

Killary Harbour is a picturesque fjord, which forms a natural border between Galway and Mayo, in the heart of Connemara. Ringed by mountains, the fjord is often speckled with dolphins.

Killary is also well known for producing some of Ireland’s most delicious mussels – taste the celebrated shellfish at the Connemara Mussel Festival in Tullycross. An incredibly calming place, it was this peacefulness that drew the famous philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein to stay after WWII to write Philosophical Investigations, his famous work.

Derrigimlagh Bog is a wild and mysterious place, a mosaic of tiny lakes and peat. To uncover two remarkable events of the 20th century, stick to the Bog Road. Soon you’ll come across the scattered remnants of the world’s first permanent transatlantic radio station, built by the Marconi Company over a century ago, while not far away is a monument to Alcock and Brown, who crash-landed (without injury) into Derrigimlagh Bog in 1919, bringing an end to the world’s first nonstop flight across the Atlantic.

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